


The Final Agony: Tenderness

by Caliadragon



Series: The Final Agony [3]
Category: Angel - Fandom, Buffy, Highlander, NCIS, Riddick - Fandom, Supernatural, The Mummy, csi all versions
Genre: Age Regression, Angst, F/M, Gen, M/M, Mentions of Character Death, Time Manipulation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-14
Updated: 2014-04-14
Packaged: 2018-01-19 08:30:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1462627
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Caliadragon/pseuds/Caliadragon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Xander is healing and finding a place among the Guardians of the Realm.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Final Agony: Tenderness

Fandom: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, CSI: All Versions, Highlander, NCIS, Riddick, the Mummy, and Supernatural.

Characters: Xander Harris, Eric Delko, Greg Sanders, Danny Messer, Methos, Riddick, Ardeth Bey, Tony Dinozzo.

Part: 1/1

Category: AU, Age Regression, Time Manipulation

Warnings: Angst, Mild Slash, unbeta'd

Rating: FRM

Feedback: caliadragon@gmail.com or on list.

Disclaimer: None of these characters are mine.

 

When Xander and Eric appeared in the safe house where the Guardian's of the Realm met he was paying more attention to his new brother than he was anything else. Xander's pain and sorrow drew his brothers to them and they could only wait in silence while he wept out his losses. After his tears had disappeared he pulled back to look at Eric. "Did you free Andrew or is he still a slave to the Powers?" he asked in a raspy voice.

 

"When time was reversed Andrew was freed and he will live a different life. While he will not remember the other time line he was gifted a better life because of what was taken from him by the Powers. As we speak him, Warren, and Jonathon are being recruited by a company and given a chance to escape from Sunnydale when they graduate in two years." Eric told him gently. It was just one of the atrocities the Powers had preformed in their version of keeping the balance. Xander had no idea, but he had actually killed the Power that had enslaved and made Andrew incorporeal. 

 

Xander nodded and leaned back against Eric in exhaustion. He was so tired, it seemed he hadn't slept in years and Eric felt so comforting and he needed the strength the older man seemed to be willing to share. "Sleep Xander, everything else can wait until you wake." Eric told him gently as he ran his hand down Xander's back in a gentle caress. Unable to do anything else, Xander fell asleep knowing that for the first time since his first husband's death that he was finally safe. 

 

"Eric, I see he accepted your offer." Methos said eyeing his younger brother and the broken child he held in his arms. 

 

"Yeah, what about you guys? How did the others accept what was happening?" Eric asked quietly, his eyes dark with curiosity and pain for his new brother.

 

"Tara insisted that she wanted to be the one to carry his little Cordelia." Greg said with a slight grin. The witch was as sweet and kind as they had seen in their scrying mirrors, but she also had strength to her that made her a gift to care for. When she learned of the time reversal she demanded that Xander be given back his youngest child. Greg knew it was a test, but he agreed and Tara was now carrying Cordelia. When Cordelia was born there would be no tie to the Powers within her. She would share both her father and her mother's strengths and be a powerful witch warrior.

 

"That's funny Dawn insisted on carrying his first daughter Ella," Methos said with a smirk. Like Tara Dawn had insisted on carrying Cordelia as she was the loss that drove Xander to madness. When she was informed that Tara was already carrying the youngest daughter she demanded that his first child be given to her to bare. Ella was also going to be a witch, but she would also have aspects of the Key within her. 

 

"Dean and Sam were insistent that they be allowed to come here as soon as possible. Since we destroyed both the demon after them and the Devil's Gate I took them to Faith and Connor." Tony answered. 

 

"Faith and Connor demanded that we take care of Xander until they arrived and then jumped on their mates. The four are on their way here. I gave Dean back his beloved Impala and the access to enough funds to get here and a way to get a hold of John Winchester. He will probably be coming with them; even though he won't remember the other timeline I believe he would be a welcome addition to the group." Ardeth said with a smile of amusement and he also thought that John would add a layer of protection that Xander and the others needed.

 

"And Doyle?" Eric asked. 

 

"He was actually the easiest to convince and talk to. He's resting in the home they will all live in. I told him it would probably be a few days before Xander's arrival." Greg told them, his eyes never leaving Xander. Xander was special to Greg in ways that he wasn't to the others and having to sit back and watch as Xander was abused and destroyed by their enemy nearly destroyed Greg. 

 

The Guardians of the Realm were a unique bunch, as humans they had been warriors and people stuck in the war between the natural and supernatural world. Eric was the oldest of the group; he was born at the beginnings of human nature as the Neanderthals were dying out. In his form before death, he had been an elder of his tribe that had died protecting his people from the last of the First Ones. 

 

Methos was only a few centuries younger than Eric, he had battled evil from the inside and nearly lost himself in the process, it was only after he allowed his slave Cassandra to escape that he was able to break away from the Horsemen and set out to battle the darkness of the world without having to become it. In his first death he died protecting a village from a hell spawn king.

 

Tony Dinozzo, once known as Thor, fought hard for his people and was declared to be a god by many. He died protecting his kingdom and peoples from demons and humans trying to bring on the apocalypse. 

 

Richard B. Riddick was a warrior who fought against the demons once his children and his mate were killed in a sacrifice for power. He had fought at the side of slayers, he was in fact one of the first to do so that had no power and no backing of what would become the Watchers Council. He was killed by a Watcher after he was injured protecting his slayer from a rampaging demon lord. 

 

Greg Sanders, once known as Merlin, fought for both humans and demons trying to keep them safe and bring peace to his people. Unfortunately, his beloved Arthur had fallen to the madness of his son and the woman who bore him. Once Arthur was dead he continued to fight evil, but was killed by the same goddess that Xander had tried to kill. Greg looked on Xander with a fatherly pride as Xander was the last descendant of Arthur Pendragon. 

 

Danny Messer, known as St. Patrick, died driving snake demons from Ireland. Before that he had fought to protect his people and tried to live by the dictates of his people and clan. He was in fact married to one of the few slayers to have a child. 

 

The youngest of the group was Ardeth Bey; he died protecting the world from an evil that wasn't so evil. Imhotep was raised three times and each time he was raised the apocalypse came, each time Ardeth was there to stop it from happening. The third time he was raised Imhotep merely wished to be left be. His heart had been broken by the knowledge that the woman he sacrificed his honor and the lives of his priests for wasn't worth it. Unfortunately Imhotep was not given the chance to go back to his rest; he was brought back strictly to be used to raise a greater evil. Ardeth, Imhotep, and the O'Connell family joined together to stop the demons, but in the process Ardeth was killed. 

 

Now a new brother had joined them and this one with a history more twisted than most of them. Yet they all swore that their little brother would be given all of the tenderness and healing that it would be possible for them to give. 

 

"What of the hellmouth?" Methos asked Ardeth.

 

"Imhotep and Alexander O'Connell are on their way there to act as a back up to the Watcher and the Slayer. Imhotep has promised to take the Witch in hand and give her proper training. Since she and the Seer will be mated with the Werewolf they will both receive the protection they were denied in the other timeline." Ardeth said with a gentle smile. The hellmouth protectors would not suffer as they had in the other timeline. They would all continue to fight, but because a strong protector would be on their side they would not have the traumas that took place in the first timeline.

 

"That's something that will ease Xander's mind when he awakens." Eric said softly, still rubbing Xander's back. Xander's sword and several other mementos of his life were waiting for him in his room at the new house. 

 

The Guardians had placed three layers of wards on the house; the wards went below the foundations of the house and formed a layer to protect from demons that might come from below. No one will ill intent would be able to come onto the property. Xander and the others would be well protected. 

 

The only worry now was that Xander would be able to move beyond the torment of his previous life. They knew that the madness had abated, but Xander was a good man at heart and a protector, they had no idea how he would react to the memories of his bloody revenge. 

 

Actually the only one not worried about Xander regretting his rampage was Methos. He knew that Xander had always had a sense of expediency. The younger man had stepped forward to stop Angelus and continued to do so from that moment on. His years of living had left there mark on him and even with the reversal of time you could not change someone's core being. Yes he had gone insane, but Xander had also only killed those directly responsible for the pain and loss he had suffered. Methos knew that Xander wouldn't grieve for what he had done, only for what he had lost. 

 

The End for Now


End file.
